Gig Harbor Washington to Bar Harbor Maine 2001

Ok, I take back what I said about the prairie. We checked out of the motel and headed for the City Park. Gridley had already checked in with the cops, like the map recommended. After we set up our tents and talked to about a half dozen local kids, we got ready to go find some lunch.

Kids.

Then, as we had hoped, a couple of women came over and invited us to the Lutheran potluck going on on the other side of the park. We had 3 hamburgers each, piles of salads, watermelon and 10 different kinds of brownies. We had a wonderful meal and a wonderful time talking to everyone. Almost everyone knew Gig Harbor and had friends in the area. The potluck was a welcoming for the new pastor. We told him how glad we were that he had come.

Hangin in the park.

Gridley and I had a great time swimming at the city pool a few blocks away. This is what riding across America is supposed to be. I guess you just have to slow down enough to let it happen.

Sean rolled into the park this afternoon, followed by 3 bikers he'd met. He had pulled into the park in Chester last night where some softball games were going on. They tossed him beers as he rode in and he partied with them until 2am. He had started his tour in San Diego with a friend and they dubbed it the Tour de Tavern. The tour continues.

His new cohorts are Jessie (Fixit) from New York and Kevin and ? from Georgia. They started at a friend's in Bremerton, just 20 miles from where we started. Duane, the guy who was sleeping in the gazebo, also joined us. He lived in New York until a couple of weeks ago when he went to Amtrak, looked at a map and decided to leave the city and his girl and move to Havre. I think it was a good choice.

Duane's reading at a nearby picnic table. We left the 3 new bikers at the restaurant/bar. Sean's at another table studying his maps. My other cohorts went for another swim. The pack of fifteen six-year-olds are watching the birthday girl open presents, "Barbie's Beauty Salon!!!", and no longer fighting over butterscotch dillybars. I'm hoping for a west wind and an early start tomorrow.

Party time.

Garcia came back from the swim walking his bike. He'd been riding with street shoes and his feet slipped off the pedals. He went on his back and the bike went in the air. He managed to cushion the bike's fall but the seat came off its rails. Fixit spent a couple hours pounding, twisting, and manhandling the seat till it finally went on. It's a little bent up though and may be tough to ride.

At 10:00 someone snuck through and locked the bathrooms, then turned on steetlights throughout the park. I was able to read, all zipped up in my tent, by the streetlight. Then at about 3am the sprinklers came on. We were fairly well prepared to deal with the water, but the noise really made me need to pee, which wasn't easy in a lit up park with locked up bathrooms. The sprinklers were loud enough that they were tough to sleep through even when they were spraying someone else. And there were still zones spraying when we left in the morning.